I don't get how Emma couldn't pull it off. It's not like you need a good voice (Sable, Kelly Kelly, Candice Michelle). Just stick her out there in skimpy gear and have her pose. I feel like this may seriously affect her time in the WWE and make me look wrong for predicting big things for her.

Evil Emma was pretty great though. I'm still pulling for a short title run where she edges Dana Brooke away from Charlotte and makes Charlotte chase.

Apparently two other things doomed the Emmalina gimmick. One being the original writer/creator of the gimmick left the WWE and rest of Creative didn't know what to do with it. The other being the WWE supposedly only actually tested this gimmick out once and didn't like the results. Might have been the day of RAW they actually bothered to do rehearsal tests for it.

Tuesday night's episode of SmackDown on the USA Network averaged 2,626,000 viewers, down just 1,000 from last week's show.

As has been the case with episodes following brand-specific pay-per-views since the roster split, there was no PPV "bounce back" this week following Sunday's Elimination Chamber show.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

Vader posted a sad tweet regarding his health on Twitter: "As I enter my final days, proud of the Father Son Brother Football player Pro WrestlerThe Super Heavy Big Man Goat Im Grateful for the Time."

Vader previously revealed he was suffering from heart failure with original estimates giving him at least 6 months left to live. Either his health drastically changed for the worse or doctor(s) were too optimistic with their evaluation. Link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/itsvadertime/sta...39440909021185

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

The entire immediate McMahon family visited Washington, DC yesterday as Linda McMahon was confirmed and sworn in as the new administrator of the Small Business Administration, which produced what will become a memorable photo in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump. As has been noted, nearly half of the people in the picture, including the President of the United States, have been recipients of at least one stunner from Steve Austin.

Last night's SmackDown and Talking Smack were interesting in terms of WWE's booking for WrestleMania season. It was announced on Talking Smack that there would be a battle royal to determine a new number one contender to challenge for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania after Randy Orton refused to face Bray Wyatt, which figures to be a storyline that plays out over the next few weeks.

WWE also began to set up tension between AJ Styles and Shane McMahon with Styles complaining that he didn't get a one-on-one rematch for the title and Daniel Bryan not taking responsibility for the decision.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

A new WWE.com video series premieres tomorrow. The show is called "My Son is a WWE Superstar," and the first episode features Finn Balor and his parents.

Jay Lethal will face either Adam Cole or Bobby Fish in a top contenders match at Ring of Honor's 15th Anniversary PPV in Las Vegas on March 10th. Lethal's opponent will be whoever loses the Cole vs. Fish ROH World Championship match prior to that at Manhattan Mayhem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

Mark Andrews vs. Shane Strickland is set for PROGRESS Wrestling on February 26th at the Electric Ballroom in London. That show will be headlined by Mark Haskins, Jimmy Havoc & Flash Morgan Webster vs. Pete Dunne, Trent Seven & Tyler Bate.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

The Tampa Bay Times has an article featuring wrestlers from the area sharing Andre the Giant stories following the announcement that HBO would be partnering with WWE to make a documentary about Andre's life.

Finn Balor is officially advertised for the May European tour for RAW shows.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PWI

Goldberg is advertised for the March 27 RAW Taping in Philadelphia which should be no surprise as its the go-home RAW for WrestleMania

Quote:

Originally Posted by PWI

Prior to the Rumble it became apparent (a lot due to betting odds being 1/25 at one point) that Randy Orton was winning the Rumble. All last week it was apparent again due to similar reasons that Bray Wyatt was winning the WWE Title. Goldberg becoming champion is now a similar situation, with almost everyone knowing the results pre event, and even the WMania33 Card being online before matches are announced, Cena/Nikki vs Miz/Maryse springs to mind. My question I guess is how does Vince feel about this? Does he even pay attention to the online sites getting everything correct from sources et al pre event? Surely he doesn’t want viewers knowing what happens in advance?

He knows that stuff gets out there and most of the time doesn’t make changes because of it. If he believes in his plans, he shouldn’t either. But make no mistake, he hates that it leaks and if he finds out who did it, he will fire them in most, if not all, cases.

From a recent Q&A session PWI holds weekly with one topic involving Vince's feelings when it comes to leaks.

Quote:

Mick Foley recently appeared on Lilian Garcia's podcast. During the interview, Foley brought up an incident where Vince McMahon yelled at Braun Strowman:

"I was about to go out there a couple weeks ago, and I heard Braun Strowman say, I want a title shot. Mr. McMahon's behind the curtain, at the board watching the monitor, and he goes, oh god, it's not a title shot. I was thinking to myself, then what is it? That's exactly what I would go to call it when I would go out there. You want a title shot? He's like, it's a title match. It's a match! So if you ever wonder what it's like to see a six-foot-eight, three hundred pound behemoth get chewed out, you should've been there."

Wacky Vince story from not-so-back-in-the-day.

Some other sheet news includes:

Recent update for the WWE Network included support for Google Chromecast devices.

In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, recently retired Rose Mendes' ppv record in the WWE was 0 wins and 3 losses. Had one ppv match in 2009 and wouldn't have a second match till 2013. Biggest surprise was all there of her matches happened in the Big 4 tier of ppvs (2 at Mania, 1 at Survivor Series). https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCirc...eer_here_is_a/

In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, supposedly the earliest known footage of someone body slamming Andre the Giant prior to Mania III is from 1972 during a match Andre had in Japan against Strong Kobayashi. Harley Race also slammed Andre once in 1979 for pre-Hogan slams. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost...ostcount=12141

"I called George the Animal steel yesterday. His wife answered the phone. I asked if Mr. Steel was there. She said he was not at home. Then she said who are you. I told her my name and she said that he may not come home this time. As tears slowly came to my eyes, I told her that everyone loved GEORGE THE ANIMAL STEEL. HOPE".

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

There may be a first on tonight's Impact show. Because of legal threats from Lucha Underground, when the Hardys vs. Super Crazy & Psicosis match airs on Impact tonight, taped from a few weeks ago at the Auditorio in Tijuana, the referee will have to be digitized out. Marty Elias was the referee in the match and he's under contract to Lucha Underground, who evidently was looking for the piece to not air at all. The Crash promotion and Konnen tried to be careful to keep anyone under contract with Lucha Underground who worked their show away from what was being taped for TNA, but nobody considered the referee. They had other referees there, but Elias, because he's bilingual, is the guy they like in the ring when American talent works with Mexican talent.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

According to Pro Wrestling Sheet, the movie "Fighting with my Family" will be shooting wrestling scenes on Monday night at the Staples Center, likely before or after Raw.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PWI

Ring of Honor is proud to announce that RING OF HONOR will be conducting the first ever WOMEN OF HONOR Tryout Camp and Seminar in partnership with Japanese female organization STARDOM!

ROH Camps have been the main catalyst to over 70 attendees getting ROH opportunities on live events, some of which are on national television. If they were never seen at these camps then they may never have had an ROH opportunity. Now, the first ever WOMEN OF HONOR camp will be held to search for the next great WOMEN OF HONOR stars as well as two competitors who may earn a tour of Japan with STARDOM!

Quote:

Originally Posted by PWI

Washington Times has an op-ed column on how Vince McMahon created a culture that defines America in 2017. Both Stephanie McMahon and Triple H commented about the piece, as you can read below.

"People have underestimated @VinceMcMahon 4 decades, never realizing he has created a culture that defines America" https://t.co/ROFfuBigFT"
— Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) February 15, 2017

.@VinceMcMahon vision can be seen not only sports & entertainment, but EVERYWHERE! #HonoredToSitUnderTheLearningTree https://t.co/q710VNYrTT
— Triple H (@TripleH) February 15, 2017

Quote:

Originally Posted by PWI

Ring of Honor will present their 15th Anniversary PPV on Friday 3/10 from The Sams Town Casino in Las Vegas, airing on traditional PPV outlets and streaming live on The Fite App, which you can download to your cell phone, Samsung Smart TV, iPad, iPhone and other mobile devices for free.

As seen on Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown Live, Bray Wyatt pinned John Cena to retain his WWE Title for the second time on a row. Sean Waltman, who was backstage at SmackDown this past week in Anaheim, California, revealed on his recent podcast episode that it was actually Cena’s idea to put Wyatt over at Tuesday’s event.

“I’m not sure what the finish was supposed to be for the match last night. But I know this for a fact, that John Cena insisted on putting Bray Wyatt over again last night, insisted on it. That’s not just a rumor.”

We noted earlier this week how John Cena is scheduled to take more time away from WWE after the April 2nd WrestleMania 33 pay-per-view in Orlando. It's believed he will be filming The Pact, which is set for a theatrical release in 2018.

The Wrestling Observer Newsletter notes that Cena has a lot of projects planned for this year. He is currently off advertising for SmackDown events beginning the week after WrestleMania, including the June 8th Money In the Bank pay-per-view from St. Louis.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

Jeff Jarrett and officials from Anthem Entertainment are meeting with ITV in the U.K. on 2/16 regarding the proposed World of Sport wrestling show.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

There’s nothing new on Drew Galloway or the Hardys as far as contracts go, but all three are expected at the TNA tapings.

TNA still the heavy favorites to sign all three to new deals.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

I don’t know when or how extensively at this point, but the plan right now is that Angle will be doing at least some wrestling in WWE. He would have to pass a physical, and obviously at best it would be very limited

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

Jim Ross wrote that he’s been hearing that Angle will be inducted into the Hall of Fame by Cena

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

Kelly Kelly was backstage at Raw in Las Vegas. She’s one of the women who they called several weeks back regarding an idea for WrestleMania. Lisa Varon (Victoria) just teased something on Snapchat and since we were told they were calling the women stars of the past for an idea, she would fit in that category.

Current rumors regarding her apperance are either being involved in a Lumberjills type match or as part of a New Gen vs Old Gen tag match.

Some other sheet news includes:

PWI recently did some data analysis regarding WWE's and Daniel Bryan's claims about Ric Flair's title reigns being shorter than Cena's. End result was Flair's average title reign was almost 3x longer than the average Cena title reign. http://www.pwinsider.com/article/107...eigns.html?p=1

According to the Observer, this week's RAW with Bayley's title win saw one of the largest demo drops in RAW history at least in regards to female viewers. Around 38% of teenage girls tuned out prior to the main event with Meltzer implying this was a big sign of how badly WWE has handled Bayley as a potential huge star. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCirc...nage_girls_38/

Brian Pillman's son announced he is starting training to become a wrestler. The goal to have a match by the 20th anniversary of his father's passing later this year. https://www.instagram.com/p/BQY2p0GBMSn/

In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, the original Impact Zone used to be in the same set as the Extreme Arena for tv show Nickelodeon Guts.

Former WWE wrestler Nicole Bass passed away today with Blue Meanie confirming the news on his Twitter account. Caused of death wasn't revealed but Bass' girlfriend revealed she had been very sick recently and her health took a turn for the worse today prior to her passing.

Last edited by Emperor Smeat; 02-17-2017 at 11:05 AM.
Reason: Chart used either was off or missing data for the Flair-Cena stuff

I haven't been particularly interesting in ROH lately, but that Daniels promo did make me order one of their PPVs. I'd actually find it to be quite the touching moment if he beat Adam Cole for the belt. Daniels "deserves it" as much as anybody. You can have Jay Lethal be his first opponent and that would be a great match for ROH too.

Hang on. Cena's first WWE Title run lasted 280 days (exactly the same length as JBL before him). But he also had that reign that lasted over a year. That's at least two.

Yeah just noticed they made a big blunder with the bottom chart. Thought at first they were just combining lengths for reigns to fit the chart or extrapolating what Cena would really have if Flair's real record was included.

Cena still has 1 reign that goes over a year but also has more that went over 3 months. His average run in actual reigns is still shorter than Flair's but they could have done a lot better job with the bottom chart.

I haven't been particularly interesting in ROH lately, but that Daniels promo did make me order one of their PPVs. I'd actually find it to be quite the touching moment if he beat Adam Cole for the belt. Daniels "deserves it" as much as anybody. You can have Jay Lethal be his first opponent and that would be a great match for ROH too.

Hoping Daniels wins as well. Such a great wrestler and it hard to believe he's never held a World title in ROH or TNA. Not sure how much longer the guy has left as he is pretty old. Would love to see m have a good sized run with the ROH World title before he's done.

Interesting to hear about Angle wrestling. It'd be much nicer to have him versus Styles at Mania this year than Styles vs. Shane McMahon.

It'd be so easy to get to too; have AJ complaining about his treatment referring to himself as the "greatest wrestler ever" and having had a "Hall of Fame career" and have Shane bring out someone who begs to differ/definetly has a Hall of Fame career.

Cause of death was revealed to be kidney failure according to the Observer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 411Mania

WWE Chairman Vince McMahon has updated his Twitter, commenting on the passing of Hall of Famer George “The Animal” Steele, who passed away last night. You can read McMahon’s tribute to Steel below.

George Steele was only an animal in the ring. He was one of the truly nice men in the world. #RIP pic.twitter.com/uOvnlztlOs

— Vince McMahon (@VinceMcMahon) February 17, 2017

Quote:

Originally Posted by WrestleInc

It was reported yesterday that Nicole Bass had passed away. The news came from her girlfriend, Kristen Marrone.

However, Pro Wrestling Sheet is now reporting that Bass has not passed away, but that she will be taken off of life support today. Doctors say that she is brain dead. The site adds that Marrone posted that Bass had passed because she felt as though Bass was already gone.

The report of Bass’ death was picked up by several sites last night, and was reported on due to the fact that Bass’ girlfriend Kristen Marrone had announced the news.

Suffered a massive stroke leading to her being hospitalized and then suffered a heart attack causing her to become brain dead.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

Jeff Jarrett and Ed Nordholm, who are running TNA, met with ITV yesterday in the U.K. They were looking at a deal where Anthem would buy into the promotion and have certain roles. The goal is to make the ITV World of Sport show have television outside of the U.K.

Some more details regarding Jarrett and ITV meetings recently.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

All Pro Wrestling will be on iPPV on Fite TV tonight from Daly City, CA with Cody Rhodes vs. Pentagon Jr. and Will Cuevas vs. Zack Sabre Jr. The show starts at 10:30 p.m. Eastern time. Jeff Cobb and Joey Ryan are also on the show.

Fite TV also has a show on Sunday which is taped, with Jim Ross announcing and Jerry Lawler vs. Jeff Jarrett and Hardys vs. War Machine as the main events.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

TNA just made a contract offer to bring back Nick "Magnus" Aldis back. The deal hasn't been completed at press time but talks are significant.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

Impact did 325,000 viewers last night, its best number since 12/15 and up 29 percent from the prior week.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PWI

Charles Robinson tweeted earlier today he was getting surgery.

Heading into surgery! Very excited for great results. See you soon @WWE @WWEUniverse pic.twitter.com/DckQ7Cm8YW
— Charles Robinson (@WWERobinson) February 17, 2017

The Rock announced on his Instagram page that former TNA Knockout Thea "Rosita" Trinidad was joining the cast of the WWE Studios film "Fighting with My Family" to portray a Divas champion in the film based on the life of Paige's family in Great Britain:

Quote:

Originally Posted by PWI

Deadline Hollywood is reporting that Starz is close to picking up an eight-episode series order on the hour-long drama "Heels". The show follows two rival brothers on the independent wrestling circuit as they war over their late father’s wrestling promotion, vying for national attention in small-town Georgia is actively is being developed by Paramount TV. The project will be written by Michael Waldron and to be directed by Kyle Patrick Alvarez.

If the series is launched, it would be the second pro-wrestling centric series that is forthcoming, following Netflix ordering a season of GLOW, a new 80s set dramedy based on the original Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling that has filmed its first season.

Why in the blue hell is there a four-man announcer booth on Smackdown?

They want Mauro to call wrestling, Tom Phillips to handle the "promotional" pushes, JBL to be the heel and they like Otunga and wanted to give him a role.

From a recent weekly Q&A session that had a question about why Smackdown has 4 announcers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Observer

Lisa Varon (Victoria) just teased something on Snapchat and since we were told they were calling the women stars of the past for an idea, she would fit in that category.

More signs pointing to WWE doing something with former WWE women wrestlers at Mania this year.

Quote:

Lots of horrible angles from 99-01 WCW. What's the one that sticks out to you the most that made you embarrassed to be calling it?

Well, I'm not so sure where the Yeti came in - I'd have to go back and look, but yeah, that was like the worst. It was a horrible thing to call and the angle was so bad.

The fingerpoke of doom was awful as well, I didn't know how to react to that. Also with Russo coming out and bashing Hogan at Bash at the Beach bothered a lot of people, but it didn't bother me at all.

I've called a lot of bad Lucha six man tag matches, where they would do good stuff but wouldn't sell any of it, and those were just horrible to call.

If I can piggyback, what was the most fun angle to call? Or angle that you were most impressed by? I'd have to imagine the initial Outsiders angle.

I had the most fun the night of Hogan and Goldberg at the Georgia Dome. But I go back, not to beat a dead horse, but to my first show at the Garden with Hogan and Bossman. I started out with Crockett and the next thing I know I am in the WWF. I probably had more fun that day than any other day in wrestling.

What, do you feel, is truly the greatest night in the history of our sport?

Well, I guess for me a lot of it could be pointing out to the final Nitro. Doing Nitro become such a chore and so difficult to do for many reasons, so I was glad it was over. Personally, one of the great nights for me was my first show at the Garden, with Lord Alfred Hayes and Hogan and Bossman in a cage. For me, those are the top two.

Was Scott Steiner as insane backstage as he was in the ring?

Yes he was. He scared the hell out of us all the time. We never knew what he would do next. Whenever he came out to the set, and I know I can speak for Heenan and Tenay, we were scared. I'm not so sure if he was sincerely like that, or if it was part of his gimmick and he wanted us to believe it, but we believed it!

Can you give us some great Dusty or Heenan stories from going down the road? You were the voice of my childhood. Thanks for everything. I love the podcast!

Heenan loved to play practical jokes on all of us, and he loved to get us announcers traveling with him laughing. I remember once we were in a convenient store in Maryland and there was a line of people. We had snacks, soda, and Heenan knocked down one of the displays on the counter. He apologized and reached to try and help the lady and knocked another one down. This went on until he'd knocked down five or six things.

We laughed so hard at that. For months. Any time there was something on a front desk, he would do something clumsy to knock it down, and that always made us laugh.

In a "WWE Did You Know" type fact, WWE currently spends around $885k per episode of RAW and Smackdown based on their recent financial report released. When including associated costs, it ends up being closer to $1.1 million per episode but WWE gets around $215k back. https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCirc...sode_of_rawsd/

In another "WWE Did You Know" type fact, WWE's restaurant "The World" was such a disaster for the company it helped caused them to generate a net profit loss of $19 million when it had to be shut down in 2002/2003. Link to WWE's business history: http://i.imgur.com/DGeU1fo.png

Jeff Jarrett and Ed Nordholm, who are running TNA, met with ITV yesterday in the U.K. They were looking at a deal where Anthem would buy into the promotion and have certain roles. The goal is to make the ITV World of Sport show have television outside of the U.K.

The more Jarrett gets involved with World of Sport, the more I just think that World of Sport will basically just be "TNA UK" when it returns to television.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smelly Meatball

Quote:

Originally Posted by PWI

The Rock announced on his Instagram page that former TNA Knockout Thea "Rosita" Trinidad was joining the cast of the WWE Studios film "Fighting with My Family" to portray a Divas champion in the film based on the life of Paige's family in Great Britain:

If you look at the link, The World lost 40 million dollars total, including submarining that one year.

Rental alone was enough to tank whatever big plans the WWE had for The World restaurant. WWE decided to have it located in one of the most expensive areas in the country for business rentals and then had the double whammy of the food getting poor reviews.

I really wish the commentary team on SmackDown was just Mauro and a color guy. I'd like to know how well Kurt Angle would do on commentary. I feel like JBL has been "played out" right now. He can do a whole bunch of other stuff (GM?).

Rental alone was enough to tank whatever big plans the WWE had for The World restaurant. WWE decided to have it located in one of the most expensive areas in the country for business rentals and then had the double whammy of the food getting poor reviews.